More Resources

Status:

18Power to obtain information and documents etc.

(1)The Scottish Ministers and any responsible authority must, on being requested to do so by SEPA, provide SEPA with—

(a)such information in their or, as the case may be, its possession or under their or its control, and

(b)such assistance,

as SEPA may reasonably seek in connection with the exercise of any of SEPA’s functions under this Chapter.

(2)SEPA may serve a notice on any other person requiring the person—

(a)to provide SEPA, or a person authorised by it, in the form and manner specified in the notice, with such information, or

(b)to produce to SEPA, or to a person authorised by it, such documents,

as it may reasonably require in connection with the exercise of any of its functions under this Chapter.

(3)The information or documents required to be provided or produced in pursuance of a notice under subsection (2) must be specified or described in the notice.

(4)A notice under subsection (2) may require information to be provided or documents to be produced—

(a)at or by a time and at a place specified in the notice,

(b)in circumstances specified in the notice, or

(c)from time to time, in accordance with criteria specified in the notice.

(5)Where a responsible authority or, as the case may be, a person on whom a notice is served under subsection (2) cannot agree with SEPA on whether information is, or documents are, being sought or required reasonably under this section, either of them may refer the matter to the Scottish Ministers, whose decision is final.

(6)Nothing in this section authorises SEPA to require the disclosure of anything which a person would be entitled to refuse to disclose on grounds of confidentiality in proceedings in the Court of Session.

(7)References in this section to documents are to anything in which information of any description is recorded; and in relation to a document in which information is recorded otherwise than in legible form, references to producing it are to producing it in legible form.

(8)Where by virtue of subsection (2) documents are produced to any person, that person may take copies of or make extracts from them.

(9)A person who—

(a)refuses or fails, without reasonable excuse, to do anything required of that person by a notice under subsection (2), or

(b)intentionally alters, suppresses or destroys a document which that person has been required by such a notice to produce,

is guilty of an offence.

(10)A person guilty of an offence under subsection (9) is liable—

(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum,

Print The Whole Cross Heading

Print This Section only

Legislation is available in different versions:

Latest Available (revised):The latest available updated version of the legislation incorporating changes made by subsequent legislation and applied by our editorial team. Changes we have not yet applied to the text, can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area.

Original (As Enacted or Made):The original version of the legislation as it stood when it was enacted or made. No changes have been applied to the text.

See additional information alongside the content

Show Explanatory Notes for Sections: Displays relevant parts of the explanatory notes interweaved within the legislation content.

Opening Options

Different options to open legislation in order to view more content on screen at once

Explanatory Notes

Text created by the Scottish Executive department responsible for the subject matter of the Act to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Acts of the Scottish Parliament except those which result from Budget Bills

More Resources

Access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item from this tab. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:

the original print PDF of the as enacted version that was used for the print copy

lists of changes made by and/or affecting this legislation item

confers power and blanket amendment details

all formats of all associated documents

correction slips

links to related legislation and further information resources

More Resources

Use this menu to access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:

the original print PDF of the as enacted version that was used for the print copy